User blog:Fire InThe Hole/Babblebox
trumpet noises* Things that I'm unsure about so I'm writing them down here. May or may not pull info from the Thoughtbox here and there. Naming Some name and language things. *Steckenburg or Steckenberg? Both are valid for now. *Dwinian and Dwinean; Dwinian is slightly less formal, but the difference is very minor and too subtle to play much of a role. Dwinnaean is an archaic form. *Number names, month names (Gridmask, Norfae, others) **Potential Dwinean number names: en do ter fo ve ze och na (1-9); enna, donna, terna, fonna, vinna, senna, onna (10-17). I'm very unsure this is what I want, but it could be used for other purposes. **What are multiples of 8 called? Octad(e)? Was tempted to use 'nonade' or 'ennead' for the Dwinian year multiples (9 years) but I'd be stuck on what nine nonades would be called. All of these are also just based off decade but with a different base number in them. *Stuff around the Tetronas language, also this. (Stat) Land Ho! I spent way too much time delving into the old RPG-style stuff without stepping back to wonder if we even intend to do anything with it. Even so, especially the former has allowed me to sit down and define how people like Delinius experience and use magic, something which we never bothered to really talk about. There might have been for a reason as well, but I cannot remember what it is, if any existed. I'll probably continue this in the magic section of the Thoughtbox. Crumber Nunching A bit of babble has occurred at this point. *We can keep the numbers and stats as something optional that people can choose to use alongside a basic text description. *We can scrap the things that are not easily identified within a story's narrative. *Stuff like aura is not extremely relevant in-canon so far, and some of the old traits would better fit as skills or abilities of some sort. Aura colour/scent could be remanded to the trivia section where desired, and might be referred to for minor stuff. Auras, Traits, Pineapples What purpose does stuff like aura colour and smell actually have, beyond being cool? Personally I only plan to do something with it once or twice, and I've indirectly used the whole concept of 'magic aura' in Desert Air and The Hideaway, but that's about as much as I intend to use it for. We could: *Rework aura to be relevant, not just in one story but several? At most, I could see the whole scent thing playing a role for people who do stuff with magic. *Drop it from the pages entirely? Probably just put it in trivia instead. *Redirect it to a supplemental page with extra info? Some of the old combat number stuff could also go there as far as it isn't used. As for the traits, so far I've been going with a "only incorporate traits that actually say something about a character's strengths and weaknesses and other 'relevant' info" which is really vague, but it seems to work so far. In addition, some of the "traits" that I created for characters have been or will be reworked into something that falls under abilities of some kind. I'm going to look at Zachary and Baxter as an example. *Zachary **Traits: explains that Zach is some kind of reptilian, with sub-bullets that explain what that actually means. **Abilities: tells you that he does things with short blades and similar, is a sneaky lizard, and can pacify monsters. Not too briefly, but not too extensively. *Baxter **Tells me that Bax is more of a charisma/popularity based success and relies on allies to get permissions that would be beyond him otherwise. **Explains that he is a tinkerer with nanomachinery, and that he does a bit of detective work and self-defense. **One or two sentences per bullet. Meanwhile the section with Delinius is already way too extensive and long, so that's something I'm going to work on by summarising some of the bullet lists. We need to talk about the technology Comments here, for instance. It is very sad that Sosh' essay about tech on Ludus was lost to the cruel site gods, but sorting out that whole thing is still something to be done at some point. Here's what I'm cobbling together from comments and Thoughtbox material so far. Please correct/elaborate where necessary: *The level of tech around West Gredile is roughly equivalent to early 20th century Earth stuff, though not precisely. In addition, Gridmasks aren't the most tech-savvy species in the star system. *Mass-produced goods are rare beyond a few workshops in New Hub City or imports from Universe City, and many people prefer building equipment by hand. *Ludus has limited supplies of metals to work with; this explains the use of wood and other non-metal materials in things like firearms and the dominance of melee weaponry, as conventional firearms out of metal are very expensive, as is their ammunition. Alternative non-metal materials besides wood would be highly sought after as well. **Possibly some people figure out how to make use of crystalline stuff (refer to certain SR compo items like stones and crystals), maybe for laser guns? Though these would be even more expensive. *Universe City features cobbled-together technology from other planets/species/cultures; NHC has experimental technology that includes carbon fiber or the like, but in both cases these technologies are reserved for the most important people to use. **This means that Delinius' Thunderous Smasher axe could be a NHC-built weapon that got displaced in time by mistake, if you take my lore for granted. **This also would explain why authorities get mad if you steal blueprints to build yourself cool stuff, see my potential idea for Lyka & Delinius vs. UC's council. *Possibly magic would be in use here and there to fill utility gaps that the sporadic tech leaves behind, but it would be even less common than said technology and reserved to a different niche. Category:Blog posts